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Article published Mar 2, 2005
Gay
marriage ban hits a snag
COLUMBIA -- Giving voters the
opportunity to decide whether the state's constitution should be amended to
strengthen a same-sex marriage ban was supposed to be a slam-dunk in the
Republican-controlled Legislature.The House did its part, voting 96-3 on Tuesday
to put the question on the ballot in the next general election.But a funny thing
happened in the Senate Judiciary Committee, where Senate President Pro Tem Glenn
McConnell, R-Charleston, tossed the legislation to a subcommittee chaired by
Sen. Robert Ford, D-Charleston.Ford is one of the proposal's biggest
opponents.Ford has become a human rain delay, proposing a series of public
hearings before bringing the measure to a vote. He originally wanted to hold
seven hearings, but scaled that back to "three or four" after meeting with
McConnell on Tuesday."We've got to make sure that we pass a constitutional
amendment that's constitutional," Ford said. "We'll speed up the hearings, but
if we're going to change the constitution we've got to make sure no one's rights
are violated."Anytime someone introduces something that is going to trample
people's rights, you have some people who jump on right away. They're called
Republicans, and that's their agenda. They don't care about being humane or
compassionate," Ford added.Sen. John Hawkins, R-Spartanburg, introduced the
legislation languishing in Ford's subcommittee. He said the Senate should allow
Ford some leeway, but added that he's prepared to move to pull the bill out of
the subcommittee if Ford doesn't work quickly enough."We can't allow one person
who is philosophically opposed to the bill to obstruct the will of the people,"
Hawkins said. "Sen. McConnell wants to let the subcommittee process work and I
respect his judgment. But we're not going to wait forever. If Sen. Ford thinks
he's going to single-handedly kill this bill, he's badly mistaken."Ford accused
Hawkins of trying to push the issue through to build his voter base, something
he said the second-term senator needed to do after a close call in last June's
Republican primary, when Hawkins defeated Lee Bright by 29 votes."All because he
had a close race, Sen. Hawkins is now trying to appeal to a segment of people
who are mean-spirited, hateful and bigoted," Ford said. "Coming from a political
family, he's spoiled. He thinks just because he introduces a bill it should be
passed without question."Hawkins brushed aside Ford's criticism. He pointed out
that he sponsored the legislation last year as well."I've always supported it,"
he said. "We're trying to protect people's rights in South Carolina by keeping
some judge from coming along and declaring gay marriage to be legal. I don't
really care which bill gets passed so long as we get these protections into
law."The resolution passed by the House on Tuesday would allow voters to decide
whether the constitution should be changed to define marriage as a union between
one man and one woman and to void same-sex marriages recognized by other states.
The Legislature passed a law in 1996 preventing gay marriages from being
performed in the state.Sixteen states have already amended their constitutions
and 11 more are in the process."It's a sad commentary that we have to amend our
constitution to defend marriage," said Rep. Greg Delleney, R-York, the primary
sponsor of the resolution in the House. "This bolsters our defense against a
judicial fiat coming from a divided court."But Rep. Brenda Lee, D-Spartanburg,
who joined Democrats Gilda Cobb-Hunter and Todd Rutherford in voting against the
measure, said she didn't want to infringe upon the rights of individuals."I
respect the institution of marriage, but people should have choices in life,"
Lee said. "If they want to marry, that's their choice."Robert W. Dalton can be
reached at 562-7274 or bob.dalton@shj.com.